Mustached men raise awareness of health issues

Tuesday

Sep 28, 2010 at 12:01 AMSep 28, 2010 at 5:01 PM

It started as a joke: A group of friends in Melbourne, Australia, decided to spend one month growing mustaches. This facial-hair experiment took place in November, and because “mo” is Australian slang for “mustache,” the friends dubbed the event Movember.

Dan Rafter

It started as a joke: A group of friends in Melbourne, Australia, decided to spend one month growing mustaches. This facial-hair experiment took place in November, and because “mo” is Australian slang for “mustache,” the friends dubbed the event Movember.

It was a hit, with co-workers, girlfriends and buddies wondering why their formerly clean-shaven friends and significant others were suddenly sprouting busy “moes” under their noses.

But as Adam Garone, one of those first ’stache-growers, says something was missing.

“We were having a few beers and talking about ’80s fashion, when we were wondering why the moustache wasn’t coming back in fashion like so many other elements of the ’80s look. So we decided to bring the moustache back,” Garone said. “It was a lot of fun. It started a lot of conversations. But it lacked meaning beyond being a joke.”

Garone and his friends changed that for the second Movember in 2004, when the group decided to use their mustache challenge to raise funds to help fight prostate and testicular cancer.

Today, Movember donates the funds it raises to two organizations, the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Last year, 225,000 moustache-growers raised more than $40 million during the monthlong Movember event. Donors can sponsor a moustache-growing individual or team, sending their pledges to the Movember Foundation, with a U.S. base in Venice, Calif. Supporters can also donate directly to the Movember Foundation any time during the year, and the Movember Foundation works with corporate sponsors that contribute funds and with companies across the world that sign up their employees to grow their own mustaches.

Garone wants the event to have a bigger effect in the U.S. Of the $40 million raised during the 2009 Movember, only $3.2 million came from the U.S., he said. Those interested in donating to the Movember Foundation or participating in this year’s Movember activities can visit www.movember.com.